staleadjective
uk/steɪl/us/steɪl/C1 no longer new or fresh, usually as a result of being kept for too long:
The bread/biscuits/cake had gone stale.
The morning after the party, their apartment smelled of stale cigarette smoke.
not fresh and new; boring because too familiar:
stale jokes/news
used to describe someone who has lost interest in what they are doing because of being bored or working too hard:
They had been working together for over five years and they had both become a little stale.
More examples
- A foul smell of stale beer permeated the whole building.
- The room was filled with the reek of stale beer and cigarettes.
- Have you got any stale cheese that I can bait the mousetrap with?
- In the cathedral vaults the air was dank and stale.
- Her breath was a little stale.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Not pleasant to eat or drink
- (as) tough as old boots idiom
- bad
- bitter
- bitterness
- bland
- chewy
- go off
- like dishwater idiom
- mouldy
- overripe
- pappy
- pigswill
- sour
- stick
- swim
- tasteless
- tough
- undercook
- underdone
- unpalatable
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Tedious and uninspiring
Plain and ordinary
staleness
noun [ U ] uk/ˈsteɪl.nəs/us/ˈsteɪl.nəs/